Jamia Nagar is a great place when it comes to good food and amicable people, but when it comes to way of living and ambiance, this place is abysmal. Let’s focus on each problem one by one:

• Sewage: One of the biggest problems of Jamia Nagar is overflowing of sewage. Every other street will welcome you with overflowing waters. If you’re ‘lucky’, you might end up seeing some excreta with some other random stuff which will make you feel disgusted. Most of the time, there are no lids for the sewage lines, so if you’re a bike rider, you will have to be very careful otherwise you’ll have to take a shower after you’re doing rescuing yourself and your bike.

• Street vendors: “Kabaadi wala”, “Paani le lo”, “Allah ke naam par..”, “Sabzi le lo” – these incessant cacophony have great tendency to ruin your sleep. They will keep on selling stuffs till midnight and will get back to their same routine next day, early morning. They won’t let you sleep and when you somehow fall asleep late night, they’ll  hinder your sleep by waking you up early with unpleasant noise.  I sometimes think that they play the game – “Who can should louder!” and that’s when all of them shout together to prove who can shout to highest decibel.

• Parking: Living in Jamia Nagar can be comfortable if you don’t have any vehicle with you. It is next to impossible to find a parking spot in Jamia Nagar; today if you’ve found one, next day, it’ll be taken by some random car which you have never seen in this locality. Or if you’ve parked in someone else’s spot, your bike will get a good scratch or fuel will be stolen or some other mishap will happen.  If you’ve parked in front of someone’s house then be prepared, because your neighbor is going to cast aspersions and heap malediction upon you.

• Congested: As the area is not planned, buildings are standing altogether without any gap. Other than that, if anything amiss happens in area like building catching fire or a person who is in need of ambulance won’t be getting any assistance as the area is pretty messed up and the streets aren’t big enough for a car or big van to get through. There is no place to breathe fresh air. It’s congested with people, vehicles and buildings. If you feel like taking a walk around the block, you’ll have to get through many hurdles like crossing sewage, going around a car or take a new turn to avoid a dirty street.

• Mishaps: Well, mishaps in Jamia Nagar will remind you again and again that you’re living in Jamia. For e.g. when you’re walking or driving on the street, you might feel water droplets falling on your head or body. It’s hard to figure out whether the water that has fallen on you came through sewage pipes or it’s just water. The only thing you can do is curse at that time. Other than that, you never know when some random kid will come in front of your bike when you’re driving on street. If somehow, the kid starts crying, get ready to hear incessant crude diatribe from their kith and kin as well as those who have no relation with the kid, but still want to give their opinion regarding the incident.

Living in Jamia Nagar isn’t easy. One has to know the way out of things; how to drive like a maniac; how to deal with elders who will criticize you for everything; how to ignore things; how to figure out the way without falling into the sewage holes or how to just ignore.

I think, one can create a game out of Jamia Nagar and the way of living. Game will consist of a bike rider who has  to figure a way out of the streets of Jamia by avoiding the gutters, sewage waste, water falling from roofs and not hitting kids. Every time, he does something wrong,  his points will be deducted and so on.”

New Delhi, 26 Feb: Hundreds of peoples demonstrated today in Jamia Nagar against illegal arresting, kidnapping and harassing of local residents by the police.

Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) Delhi secretary, Syed Akhlaq while addressing to the protest-march said, “Police is for people’s safety not for terrorizing them and it is their prime duty to respect civil rights while arresting or nabbing any person and Supreme Court should take action if its given guidelines are not being followed by any law enforcement agency.” He added, “People should aware and come out to protect their civil rights.”

Adv. Feroz Gazi vice president of APCR, Delhi chapter said, “No one is allowed to take law into his hand either police or common people and every person has right to protect himself from illegal detention.”

Engineer Saleem, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Public Relation secretary said, “APCR has taken right step on right time to aware people about their civil rights.”

About 200 persons including advocates, social activists and students marched through Okhla Police Station, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Zakir Nagar to Batla House.

This march was a part of APCR’s week-long civil rights awareness campaign

Akhlak Ahmad

Association for Protection of Civil Rights(APCR)
108-III Floor,Pocket-1
Behind Living Style Mall
Jasola Vihar
New Delhi-25
Phone # 011-64639388
Mob # 9899384358

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PoK-based chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s India operations. In his 50s.

THE second rung

Amir Raza Khan

Heads Indian Mujahideen, reports to Al-Qama. Was behind the Kolkata American Center attack of January 2002

Roshan Khan alias Riyaz Bhatkar

Former Fazl-ur-Rehman gangster, IM co-founder. Name cropped up in 7/11, Malegaon blasts probes

Mohd Sadiq Israr Sheikh (32)*

From Sanjarpur, Azamgarh; IM co-founder.

“Controlled” Delhi blasts. Worked as techie in Mumbai

NEXT IN LINE Atif Amin

Headed IM’s Delhi module; executed bombings in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad. Was killed in Jamia encounter, reported to Sadiq

ASSOCIATES*

Afzal Mutalib Usmani (32)

Stole the 4 Navi Mumbai cars used in Ahmedabad, Surat

Mohd Zakir Sheikh (28)

Scrap dealer, helped plant Gujarat bombs

Mohd Arif Sheikh (28)

Mumbra electrician, built circuits used in Ahmedabad, Surat

Sheikh Mohd Ansar (31)

Software techie, cops probing if he hacked WiFi networks

Let’s start with discussing an incident which is still fresh in our minds and pains us. The Delhi blasts which brought to centre stage a little known place in Delhi, Jamia Nagar. These serial blasts in Delhi put an indelible blot on this place that even time can’t remove. This place has been blacklisted by this isolated case.

Recently a newspaper reported that the people of Jamia Nagar are even denied mobile connections, people fear to visit this place for no reason whatsoever and something as simple as getting pizza delivered may be difficult. 

Now why am I discussing this here? Amidst all this, I learnt that Jamia Nagar is predominately a Muslim area, in fact only Muslims live there which was preceded by an innocuous question (as I thought it would be) which was to entrap me in the LOC that I have never seen in Delhi. The question was why only Muslims live there?

 I decided to casually ask this question to some people around me but never expected that the answers would shock me and put me to profound shame.

 I posed this question to one of my friends and pat came the reply “may be because of their cultural similarities”. I moved on to pick another person for another answer; I actually expected the same answer. But his reply “why are you bothered? How does it matter where all these terrorists live, in fact let them live there only”. I felt so embarrassed to hear such a caustic and corrosive reply from someone known to me. I asked how could he say they all are terrorists, to which he angrily replied “don’t you know police killed two, arrested one and I guess two of them fled”.

I retorted even more angrily “first of all every time you curse the police for its corruption and ineffectiveness and now you believe them blindly (I am not raising questions on the encounter) by the way you named 2+2+1=5. Do only five people live in Jamia Nagar”.

I further argued and showed him the mirror “in fact you are no less than a terrorist yourself who harbour so much hatred for people you have never met, seen or spoke. In fact you never even visited the place and passed judgment on them.” He walked off, but his terrible reply had given me the sense of that invisible LOC which he may always carry with himself and may even influence other people by his venomous thinking.

Others also came with their unjustifiable answers like “we and they aren’t alike, so let them live there”, “they live terribly” – so on and so forth.

But the last answer showed me that LOC clearly which I wished I shouldn’t have ever seen and nearly led me to a fight with another self-styled progressive who foolishly uttered without any understanding that “they don’t want to live with us”. I laughed at myself and at my question because unfortunately the other way round is the answer to my question. We don’t want to live with them that is why we forced them to live in small pockets (people reasoned with me that it is not true, they live together because culturally they find it convenient. This excuse may sound very valid but for me it is just an excuse. Religion can never be a bar if we actually want to live together)

“Do you want to live with them?” I asked him.

“Why should I?” he replied.

“Then why should they?” I pressed.

I answered my own question.

“They all are living there because we want them I am not limiting my answer to Jamia Nagar only. We are not allowing them to integrate with us. We are making them feel estranged in their own country.  Now I am not limiting my answer to the city only. Ask any one among us and he will deeply regret the partition of India, never miss a chance to call them brothers but the whole acrimony is generated on religious lines only. I don’t understand why we mistreat and even neglect our own brothers in our own country. Don’t judge the community by some aberrant people if you do so then I will also judge ourselves by the acts of some aberrant people from among us who are killing Christians in Orrisa and it will go on like this and we will end up deepening on this LOC in our heart. Now I want you to act not react “. He listened with rapt attention and may even act as one should and so should you who have waited until the end of this answer of that innocuous question.   

__._,_.___

While we keep blaming our neighbouring countries for sparking up communal and terrorist activities we need to understand that most of the troubles that our country is facing today are home grown. Criminals have been nurtured by the so called representatives of the people and are not identified as killers and rapists but on the basis of their religious identity (Hindu, Muslim or Christian) or on their ethnic backgrounds (tribals).

The bomb blasts that have off late rocked the various cities of the country including the national capital were not planted by terrorists but by Muslims. This is the only identification that a terrorist has in our country today. If he is a Muslim he has to be a terrorist. How can a few anti social elements irrespective of their religion and their ethnic background be representative of an entire communit? If that is the case then why hasn’t the government branded right wing extremists like the Bajrang Dal and the VHP as terrorists? What they have been doing in Orissa is nothing less than acts of terrorism. Is raping a nun the way to promote anti conversion? Such inhuman acts are no less than planting bombs that kill innocent civilians.

But who is behind all this? Who gains the maximum out of the all the chaos that is being created in different parts of the country, be it Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam or any state for that matter. Certainly not the ‘Common Man’. With double digit inflation and global meltdown he already has a lot of problems to worry about. It is the government who has to take care that his security is not put at stake. After all that’s why we elect them and pay taxes. Isn’t it? But may be they have gotten too used to all the power that they have in their hands. And that is why they are repeating what the British tried to do with our country, Divide and Rule. It is just a matter of who divides better and rules with more tact.

Time and again politicians have ripped open the heart of the nation to merely soak their hands in blood and wipe them off when they are satisfied. It becomes news for sometime and each party takes a stance – a stance that would be most beneficial to them and get them the maximum votes. After their needs are met no one even bothers asking a question until and unless it has some political impact. In the recent scenario for example just to make his Muslim vote bank in Uttar Pradesh happy, Amar Singh wanted a probe into the Jamia Nagar incident. Does that mean the police were totally clueless and opened fire blindly at the slain IM terrorists? Instead of requesting for an impartial investigation Mr. Singh believes that kicking some mud would raise his status in the eyes of his Muslim vote bank, something he badly needs to counter Mayawati. The BJP on the other hand wants to make the word ‘terror’ synonymous with the word ‘Muslim’ so as to become the messiah of the Hindu electorate. The Congress too is perplexed and doesn’t know which side to take. Sections of the party want to go against Mr. Singh while another section wants the Orissa government to resign for its failure to maintain law and order. If that is the case then even the congress government in Assam should step down for its absolute indifference to the illegal migrants problem.

All this is happening merely in the quest of power. They have no problem if people keep getting slaughtered in a limited and controllable number in a given period. This keeps alive the so called ‘Agenda’. At the end of the day it is only some unknown faces from the masses that get wiped out and a few families turn homeless. That’s not much collateral damage. Not one party has addressed or even tried to hint at addressing the basic security issue of the common man. Why should they? They have a flashing red light Ambassador to protect them from the woes and troubles of being a common man. At the end of the day it is only about Power and that’s about it!!!

The title of the article – “You’re either with us or against us” – rather sadly, defines the more highlighted muslim mindset, which is mostly a result of third-grade leadership by people like the Imam Bukhari who end up lowering the debate on such national issues, as well as, the intellect of a large sections of the muslim community.

Through our earlier post by Arif Mohammed Khan, we’re hoping to raise the level of this debate, and invite the moderate and sane muslim voice, which is not coming up, or not allowed to come up. A simple reference to the comments posted by muslims on this article at Indian Express’s site, is proof that the moderate and majority of educated muslim voice differs with what the media is highlighting, and what is heard and believed in most of India by Hindus.

We believe there is hope, and all of us, need to work hard in making this sane voice of the general educated muslim heard – a lot more, and a lot louder.

——— The article as appear in Indian Express ————–

Inspector M.C. Sharma of the Delhi Police succumbed to injuries on September 19, after an encounter that also resulted in the deaths of two terrorist suspects.An officer with multiple awards for gallantry, Inspector Sharma died a martyr for the nation.

As a police officer, what is especially distressing to see were media reports about locals protesting the episode as another fake encounter. They were joined by social organisations and NGOs, then vice-chancellors and Union ministers, and now the mainstream media is carrying stories of how it doesn’t all add up. This episode covers all the professional dilemmas that face our police forces as we attempt to take on one of the most significant and well-organised threats to internal security. There is no denying that the modern Indian state faces a very peculiar problem with militant Islamism, especially the home-grown variety. The strategy conventionally used to fight terrorism have to deftly negotiate the minefield that is the politics of religious identity in India. When every act of commission and omission by the police is analysed through the lens of communal politics then the already difficult task of fighting terrorism becomes well nigh impossible.

Listen to the questions being raised one despairs for the fate of a civil society that is unable to distinguish between its violators and defenders. Why were two terrorists killed? Why was one arrested? Why and how did two of them escape? Why did Inspector Sharma die? Why wasn’t he wearing a bulletproof jacket? Let us add up the worst of the conspiracy theories and we get the following scenario. Delhi Police was under pressure from the media and the Government to do something. So they made elaborate plans. A house was rented in a Muslim locality close to a mosque. Three innocent youths were picked up from different places and brought there at some unspecified time which would be corroborated by a ‘local eye witness’. Then two of them were shot dead and the third was arrested so he could testify as an eyewitness against the cops in the murder case that ought to be registered against Sharma and his team. To make the story more believable Sharma was shot dead by his own colleagues. How paranoid does one have to be to believe this theory?We will believe the worst about our men in khaki based on conjecture and propaganda because it is our democratic right and duty not to trust them. And the terrorists whose murderous deeds have been splattered across our TV screens deserve all the benefit of the doubt.It seems to me that the life or death of a policeman is the cheapest commodity in our public life. Unfortunately due to a shameful post-Independence history where the police were not firm with dealing with communal violence and often became a direct party to them, and because of endemic corruption and incompetence and resource constraints, our credibility as upholder of the law stands badly dented. There can be no denying that the real and perceived bias of the police apparatus in India has directly contributed to creating a generation of radicalised Muslim youth. But what is equally obvious is that they are now linked to a transnational militant ideology that aims to weave together the narrative of global revenge for local injustices. Getting rid of this institutional bias is important to win the trust of all minorities though it will not wean back those already radicalised.

There is no denying that the national response to jihadist Terror would entail making difficult and decisive choices, not least between the need for public safety and civil liberties. But one hopes that before it is too late, our civil society can find it within itself to trust the professional police leadership with a key role. Police forces all over the country would need to be backed by a cross party political consensus and a nationwide mandate for action. Perhaps even the constitutional contours of our federal structure would also need to change. Can a national threat be met by a piecemeal response? Our capabilities for targeted surveillance and general monitoring will need to improve, minorities need to be recruited, language skills improved, hitherto absent analytical and profiling capabilities developed and inter agency co-operation regardless of the political differences, would have to become second nature.

Like any other proud police officer I salute the sacrifice of Inspector Sharma. I am sure that he knew, like all of us do, that his khaki uniform may one day ask him to lay down his life in the line of duty. But I am equally, and sadly, sure that the significance of his sacrifice lies immersed with his ashes.

Khan talks about the boycott of sane voices in the muslim community such as Mushirul Hasan, who was boycotted for expressing his opinion that banning Satanic Verses would only increase its sales. Ofcourse this same fundamentalism has entered the hindu mindset as well now.

Khan goes on to seal the case with:

The most important Muslim organisation operating from the Jamia neighborhood is the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and its affiliates. During their agitation against the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case, the members of AIMPLB made public exhortations to break the legs of Muslims who differed with their stand. Their supporters went to the extent of suggesting that Supreme Court judges are not competent to interpret Muslim personal law….
Such activities of these Muslim outfits are as much a source of consternation to common Muslims as they are to other Indians. Occasionally some Muslims raise their voice but they lose nerve when they see the political promiscuity and influence enjoyed by these extremist elements.

We would invite the muslim readers of this article (or the artile at Indian Express http://www.indianexpress.com/news/look-who-hijacked-jamia/367985/), who agree broadly with the case Mr. Khan presents , to comment and have your opinion heard. This would help raise the level of discourse on what the muslim community feels about the current Jamia Nagar case, and in general on the agenda of the conspiracy theorists who are abound, and mostly whose voices are heard.

——— The article as appear in Indian Express ————–

“And fear tumult or oppression, which affects not in particular only those of you who do wrong. And know that God is strict in punishment.” (Quran, 8.25)Ibn Katheer commenting on this verse has quoted a Prophetic tradition saying that “if a people, despite being strong and numerous, do nothing to stop those men among them who do wrong, then they will be surrounded with punishment”.

History is full of instances showing how a small group of people or individuals by their odious acts have inconvenienced the communities they belong to.

Today the Muslims as a community are passing through a difficult period on account of the activities of terrorists who shamelessly use religion to justify their crimes.

A common Muslim, like his compatriots, is busy earning his daily bread and raising the family. With increased awakening about modern education, good numbers of Muslim families from rural areas have moved to urban centres to ensure education for their wards. A casual survey of the families living in Jamia Nagar will show that the majority of them hail from villages and depend for their income on rural sources. In many cases it is only the mothers and children who are living here, while the men spend most of their time in native places to arrange the necessary means for the family to carry on in Delhi. Their only concern is a safe and peaceful environment congenial for academic pursuit.On the other hand, attracted by this large population, more than two dozen Muslim outfits have established themselves in this neighbourhood taking upon them the responsibility to lead and organise the religious and social life of the community. They include organisations like the Personal Law Board, Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and Jamaat-e-Islami. None of these organisations is known for promoting social reform or education. Most of the time they are competing with each other in crying wolf and pressing the need to fight against imagined threats to the Muslim religion and identity. Occasionally they also succeed in securing positions of power for their nominees and this political patronage helps them to widen their network in the community.

If we look at some important events of the past then an idea can be formed about the activities and mindset that is promoted by these organisations.

After the official ban on The Satanic Verses, Mushirul Hasan, the present vice chancellor and then teacher in the history department of Jamia, said in an interview to a weekly that a ban on the book would only boost its sales and increase the circulation of the objectionable writing. His remarks were not in support of the book, its contents or the writer, yet they provoked an angry and violent protest inside the campus. The Muslim outfits worked overtime to instigate and excite the feelings resulting in a situation where despite continuing on the rolls of the university Mushirul Hasan could not enter the campus for more than three long years.During the war in Afghanistan, public expressions of solidarity with Osama bin Laden were made and posters in his support were pasted in the area by some self-appointed champions of Muslim interests. This was done despite the knowledge that Osama and Al-Qaeda were directly involved in Terror activities in Kashmir. I remember having met many Muslims from Jamia Nagar who expressed their utter indignation over the episode and felt sorry for not being able to oppose these undesirable activities.

In 1990, Prof Mushirul Haq, the vice chancellor of Kashmir University, was killed by terrorists in Srinagar. Since he was an old teacher of Jamia, his burial took place inside the campus. As an academician I had held him in great esteem and during the Shah Bano controversy had sought his opinion on several occasions. I went to attend his last rites and walked almost a kilometre with the funeral procession. After reaching the burial ground suddenly the lights went out and in that darkness I was attacked with an iron rod, causing head injury. Later, inquiries revealed that the students who had organised the blackout and attack belonged to the Jamaat-e-Islami. It is important to recall that the banned organisation, SIMI, was mostly manned by young activists inspired by philosophies like that of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The other organisation with headquarters in this area is Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat. On the slightest provocation they would call for a boycott of celebrations of Independence Day or Republic Day giving rise to communal tension. It is true that on every occasion they had withdrawn the calls, but that did not help in lessening the tension.

The most important Muslim organisation operating from the Jamia neighborhood is the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and its affiliates. During their agitation against the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case, the members of AIMPLB made public exhortations to break the legs of Muslims who differed with their stand. Their supporters went to the extent of suggesting that Supreme Court judges are not competent to interpret Muslim personal law.It is important to recall that during parliamentary discussion of the bill that was brought in to negate the impact of the Supreme Court judgment, almost every minister who rose to defend the measure referred to the apprehensions of threats to law and order arising on account of an aggressive and violent agitation.

Such activities of these Muslim outfits are as much a source of consternation to common Muslims as they are to other Indians. Occasionally some Muslims raise their voice but they lose nerve when they see the political promiscuity and influence enjoyed by these extremist elements.

The establishment must realise that the police can fight terrorists, not terrorism. Terrorism can be contained only by a strong political will that identifies and isolates individuals and organisations promoting a violent mindset and does not favour them with political patronage.

Submitted by Mudassir Rizwan on 27 September 2008 – 5:07am.  Indian Muslim

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: It is around 3:30 pm, September 18, the day before the Jamia Nagar encounter. Six people enter the House No. C-81 in Abul Fazal Enclave in Jamia Nagar area and ask three persons in the room their name.

All the three were reading books. Among them one is class X student and another class XII student. The third one is a research scholar of Jamia Millia Islamia. The three are flat partners.

As soon as the six strangers in civil dress (sleuths of Special Cell of Delhi Police) get confirmed that it is C-81 and among three one is Md. Rashid, they begin flipping books on the shelf.

Do you know Abul Bashar, they asked? “I said I don’t know anyone with this name,” recalls the slim man in early 30s.

Do you know Abu Bashir? “I don’t know anyone with this name either. Then they said you will know everything soon.

They asked his friends about the mobile he uses. His friends said he does not use any mobile.

Then they took out his purse from his pocket. There was Jamia Millia Islamia I Card, DTC bus pass, 500 rupees and a phone diary.

Then they asked him to come with them. He asked “Where do you want to take me and first tell me who are you? “They were in civil dress so I could not identify whether they were policemen,” recounts Rashid who became Muslim when he was a teenager.

Then they brought Abul Bashar to his room. They asked Rashid “Do you know him?” he said no.

“Uncle ji, what is the matter? Come with us, you will know soon, they said.

“I am not a thief; I have been living here for eight years. I am Jamia student. Ask me whatever you want to know” he told them clearly.

Yet, they caught hold of his shoulder and took him down. He said “Uncle ji I am not thief, I am Jamia student. I have no intention to flee. I have not done any crime. You can take me as a normal person, not as a thief.”

All the way they continued asking him about Abul Bashar. They said they were taking him for questioning as Abul Bashar has given his name.

They took him to a Delhi Police Special Cell office. He was presented before an officer. There were 10-12 persons there. They repeated the last question. And he repeated the answer. Then they said he will not speak by this way. “We are respecting you as you are research scholar and not using other methods. If you do not tell the truth then we will make you tell,” they said.

Then began the real drama.

They pounced on him. They were 5-6. They were not beating, in fact fists and kicks were raining on him. They beat him to their full satisfaction. Then they asked the same question.

“If you are going to continue beating me then I am ready to confess whatever you want. Yes I know Abul Bashar. And tell me where to sign papers. I am ready to sign” Rashid told them.

They said he will not budge so easily.

Then they took him to another room. There they took off all his clothes. He was standing with no thread on him. And again they started beating brutally.

He said “If you want me to make mastermind, then I am ready. But I don’t want to be beaten like this.”

The whole drama continued for 2 hours. Then they presented him before an officer. Now they repeated the same question and added one more name. They asked “Do you know Yasin Patel?” “I don’t know him personally,” he said.

Patel’s name was on a chit in his phone book. Rashid told them he makes his two ends by doing tuition and coaching. Many people come in his contact. Some parents give him their phone number and ask him to spare time for their children.

They also asked him about conversion. He said he converted on December 9, 1995, almost three years after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. He is from Allahabad.

They asked who made him recite the kalimah. He told them how he came across a book on Hindu society and then developed curiosity to learn about Islam.

Then he read a Hindi translation of “Towards Understanding Islam” of Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi. They asked who gave him this book. He said he bought it from a shop.

They hurled abuses on his conversion. They kept him in the custody for full 72 hours. Gradually their hard tone and attitude got softer and on September 22 he was released.

Even today he is shocked and terrified thanks to our people in khaki dress.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police claim to have cracked the serial bomb blast cases, which rocked different parts of the country over the past few months.

Joint Commissioner of Police Special Cell, Delhi Police, Karnail Singh said the terror module behind the blasts is a deadly cocktail of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen, Indian Mujahideen and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

“LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen provided support to Indian Mujahideen and SIMI, who were directly involved in carrying out the serial bomb blasts in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, UP courts and Varanasi,” Singh said while addressing the media on Saturday evening in New Delhi.

Singh also said that that the terrorist killed by a Special Cell team in New Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area on Friday morning as been identified as Atif and he was kingpin of the terror network.

“Atif and Junaid planted the bombs in Greater Kailash-i M block Market, Sajid and Zeeshan at Barakhambha Road while Saif and Khalid planted the bomb in Ghaffar Market,” Singh added.

Singh also revealed that all the terrorists came from Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh while the explosive for making the bombs came from Karnataka.

The group behind May 13 Jaipur blasts had gone over from Delhi to Jaipur and planted the bombs while the bombs in Ahmedabad were planted by 13 local operatives.

Sep 19,2008 : India salutes its brave son, who became a martyr for his motherland. India pays rich tribute to martyr MC Sharma. Long Live Shahid Mohan Chand Sharma!. This is the biggest loss for Delhi police after the death of Ranbir Singh earlier this year.

Inspector Sharma(44),, who was killed in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar encounter with terrorists today, was described as one of their finest by the Delhi Police.

As per tip off from Gujarat Office, Delhi Police specialist cell stormed into an apartment at Jamia Nagar where 5 terrorists were holed up. Atiq, wanted in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi, and one of his associates were also killed, while two managed to escape. One was held and has been taken for the interrogation.

Inspector Sharma, who was awarded a Police Gold Medal for gallantry on Republic Day this year by the President of India, has in all received 150 rewards in his police career so far, including seven gallantry medals. He had neutralized 35 terrorists while he was responsible for the arrest of 80 of them. The officer had also neutralized 120 gangsters so far. He was involved in more than 75 gun battles, several involving dreaded gangsters from the badlands of Uttar Pradesh.In his time time, his team solved the Red Fort attack, the Parliament attack, and the 2005 Diwali blasts cases.

Sharma had always led from the front. He has shown the way to the Delhi Police. Such was the character and dedication of Sharma, he left his little son sickbed in Delhi’s Kalra Nursing Home with dengue fever saying “I have to rush… I’ll be back in an hour. We have some good leads. Pray for us. We have to get the right men and bring this (bombings) to a stop.”. At that time son was battling for life with urgent need of rare O+ blood.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police was formed in 1986, when militancy in Punjab was at its heights. It used to be known as a dumping ground for police officers who either did not perform well or were not in the good books of senior officers. In 1998, things began to change. Ashok Chand was appointed DCP. Encounter specialist Rajbir Singh, who had by then made a name for himself, was posted as ACP. Ranbir Singh handpicked his team from officers whom he had worked with earlier. Mohan Chand Sharma, Badrish Dutt, Lalit Mohan Negi, Hridya Bhushan and several others joined. And since then, there has been no looking back..

Sequence of events :

 ..

• As per information from Gujarat police the special cell takes position on the buildings around apartment block L-18.
• Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was not wearing a flak jacket, knocks on the front door of an apartment on the fourth floor of L-18 building.
• Sharma asks the inmates to come out for police verification. Occupants open fire from a .3 mm pistol.
• Three bullets hit Sharma; two pass through his body. Sharma falls down as the policemen take shelter.
• Head Constable Balwan Singh suffers injury on right hand.  

Days after a series of bombs went off in the Indian Capital’s elite markets, killing 20 and injuring another 90 people, Delhi police had a ‘fierce exchange’ of fire with suspected militants bang in the middle of the city’s Muslim-dominated Jamia Nagar.

Police officials said two suspected militants — including one called Atiq, a suspect in the Delhi (and earlier, Ahmedabad) bomb blasts, were shot dead, one was arrested and two managed to escape. Two policemen were injured in the same encounter. For details on that story click here and here.

In Jamia Nagar, tension ran high as rumours went wild. Journalists reported that local residents in Jamia Nagar were incensed after hearing a rumour that the shootout was staged from one of the localities 18 mosques. Elsewhere, there were questions about whether this was another ‘fake’ encounter Delhi police are notorious for, particularly as the government (and its home minister Shivraj Patil) have come under some severe criticism for its Intelligence failure to prevent the Delhi blasts (and the preceding 13 blasts over the past four years).

Meanwhile, in an earlier post on his blog The Delhi Walla, journalist Mayank Austen Soofi describes Jamia Nagar as Delhi’s ‘rich Muslim ghetto’, home to the Batla House bazaar with all-night henna shops and the world-class Jamia Millia Islamia University.

In front of the university library

Jamia Nagar conjures up the image of either the pristine campus of Jamia Millia University with its parks and ponds, trees and benches, ducks and koyals, or the cramped colonies packed with claustrophobic apartments, uncovered drains, and pot-holed roads. It is one of the city’s many religious-ethnic enclaves, much like Chittaranjan Park (Bengalis) and Tikak Nagar(Sikhs), where Delhi shows its class and religious divides.
Jamia Nagar is a ten-minute drive from one of city’s major business hubs, Nehru Place. Yamuna, flowing just behind Shaheen Bagh, looks surprisingly clean.

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And, finally, my column in Mint looks at living under the shadow of death in India’s capital. While political parties seek to score brownie points against each other, life goes on for ordinary people — scared, vulnerable yet faced with the gritty reality of having to survive and make a living.

My younger daughter, aged 13, had laid out the clothes she was going to wear for Sunday’s early morning Terry Fox run. The plan was to get to her school early on Sunday morning where she would join her classmates to run for the cancer awareness-raising event and then round it off with lunch with a group of friends at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Connaught Place.

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India police kill ‘two militants’

Police in the Indian capital Delhi say they have killed two suspected militants in a shoot-out, days after a series of bomb blasts in the city.

A senior official said two policemen were injured in the clash with militants around a house in the Muslim dominated Jamia Nagar area.

There was a “fierce exchange” of gunfire around the house, eyewitnesses told the news.

At least 20 people died in a series of blasts in the city last week.

Television news channels showed an ambulance taking away a bloodied person from the crowded Jamia Nagar area after the gun battle ended.

Witnesses told the BBC that a large contingent of policemen surrounded a four-storey home where the suspected militants were supposed to be hiding.

“The police were firing at the fourth and top storey of the building. A lot of people had gathered around the building,” one eyewitness said.

On Wednesday, Delhi police issued sketches of three men who they believe were involved in the bomb attacks that hit the city on Saturday.

About 90 people were injured when the five devices went off in busy shopping areas within minutes of each other.

An e-mail purportedly from a group calling itself the “Indian Mujahideen” claimed it carried out the attacks.